Monday, July 30, 2007

I put up a pretty good show on this blog--writing about the Alaskan outdoors and camping, hiking, fishing--but those who know me know I'm all talk. I do outdoor things for five reasons: and they all have the same last name as I do.

Yes, I occasionally venture into the great outdoors because I love my husband and my children and they, in turn, love going camping. Me? I HATE to be cold and I HATE to be dirty--and I don't think there are caps big enough to emphasize that "hate" part--but because of my fervent love of my family several times a year I suck it up and go camping. Without showers. Or shampoo. For days. Yes, I'd have been toast if I'd lived before indoor plumbing was invented.

However . . . there is a place, a nearly perfect place where my family has camped since before Alaska was even a state (that was back in 1959 people) and it is wondrous enough to draw even me from my germophobic fetal-position to crawl outside with my wool socks into the Alaskan wilderness. The place is Tangle Lakes.

About six hours north of Anchorage in the Alaskan interior is a campground that is much different than the what you'd see around south-central Alaska. Instead of the forested mists of the peninsula there in the nearly treeless rolling hills is nestled a network of lakes and rivers that is Camping Heaven complete with sun, hills, water and blueberries. That's right blueberries. Places where you can sit on the hillside and just pick until you can't pick no more. And did I mention the fish? Scads of grayling, which look rather like a trout but with an enormous dorsal fin.

Though it is six hours north of Anchorage, just as in midwestern America the temperatures are more extreme than here on the temperate coastline. It gets cold in the winter but also hot in the summer--or as hot as Alaska ever gets.

Some of my favorite memories from childhood are our regular camping trips there: watching out the car window for a glimpse of Octopus Lake (can you see the octopus in the picture to the right?), wading in the water by the boat launch, nearly losing the canoe, Mom making blueberry cobbler from our fruitful pickings, 4th of July fireworks with birthday cake.

The last time we went it was so hot and the river low enough that the boys took their camping chairs and fishing gear and sat in the middle of the river to fish--yes Virginia, there is a heaven and it's called Tangle Lakes. But this year was my first time going with only my own family for company. Usually Tangle Lakes is an extended family party but this time it was just we Mittons and though I had every intention of making it just as big of a party as in years past this time it was a bit different.

While excellently maintained, the lower campground where we usually camp has been permanently closed to all but fireless picnics (and whoever heard of such a thing) leaving us to camp at the larger campground across the highway without the sweet little river running by our campsite where you could fish or wade right out of your tent door. The weather that is nearly always sunny and hot was this time temperamental. Andrew and Grace were canoing on an adjoining lake when a rainstorm hit, complete with thunder and lightning, leaving me to worry until I saw them dragging their water-logged bodies and boat back to the RV. There were more campers than I'd ever seen it before so instead of having our little spot by the river all to ourselves we were around enough people to have to tell the kids to keep their voices down.

Now don't get me wrong, it's still my favorite place to camp--we picked more blueberries than any other previous year (two gallons by my reckoning), the boys spent the time fly fishing and we played nightly card games until it got dark enough around midnight to make us think of bed but it was different and a little sad to see things changed.

The campground was still terrific, but Tangle Lakes was the only place where I could feel like a real outdoorsy Alaskan, an authentic adventurer, the place where I could say I actually liked to camp and meet nature one-on-one, woman to woman and hold my own. If it changes where now will I go?

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comments:

How much does a gallon of blueberries weigh? We rent and the landlord(freakin a**) has an office in front. There about 100 blueberry bushes of several different varieties. Last year there were no berries cuz Mr. Idjit trimmed the berries at a crucial time for berry development. This year they are laden. He tried to charge us 2 bucks an lb like he does to those who stop by to pick. I laughed in his face(nicely). He has yet to fix the leaky water heater, the leaky bathtub faucets, and a dozen other things that have cropped up in the past seven years.

It sounds like a lovely place to visit. I'm with you though, camping to me is a nice motel with no room service.(wink)

That sounds (and looks) beautiful. If we ever get up to Alaska we will have it on the list. And Lord knows our family looooves blueberries.

If you ever go South you can hit our favorite camping spot at Lake Jocassie in South Carolina. You have to boat out to the campsite and bring your own everything because there is nothing, not even running water...but it is beautiful there. The water is crystal clear and there are waterfalls that fall from the cliffs right into the lake. Awesome water ski area. We would wear ourselves out there!

Oh! Oh! I know where you can go. How about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area (in the U.S.) or the Quetico (in Canada)? It's pristine wilderness of lakes and islands and pine tree (and yes, blueberries!). I haven't camped there in years, because we haven't lived close enough. But growing up, I used to spend a week in the Boundary Waters every August with our youth group. It was paradise. I'd love to go back.

But of course, this is real "Alaskan-style" camping. :-) No RVs allowed, only tents and what you can carry in your canoe to the camp sight (including a shovel and toilet paper).

Ah blueberries! We love blueberries. I hate it when other people infringe on time in the great outdoors. I would love to design a campground someday that kept everything spaced so that people felt like they were there alone. Of course I would go bankrupt pretty quickly.

It looks beautiful. So peaceful and calm. I love camping and being in nature, but unfortunately no one else does so I have to do without. Pictures like yours makes me want to run off to the wilderness for a few days. :)

As a fellow Alaskan neighbor, camping in Alaska can't be beat for one main reason (in my opinion) NO SNAKES. We've have taken our kids out camping, starting at 4 weeks old. It takes a good man for me to do such. He makes breakfast before I usually get up. For me the worst is not the actual camping, but the getting home and having to put away all the "stuff" I dislike that. One look in our garage and you'd get the clue. I can't park in it.